At halftime of the Central Suburban Showcase, while the rest of the Evanston boys basketball players warmed up, Nojel Eastern walked to the side of Beardsley Gym. The 6-foot-6 Eastern, who has signed with Purdue, reached up over the brick wall into the grandstand and high-fived a number of children who had made their way to the front row.
Eastern finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals in three quarters of play as the Wildkits (24-3) routed Deerfield 69-49 on Feb. 22 in a game which featured the North and South division conference champions.
Eastern will go down as one of Evanston’s all-time greats, and his status will only be enhanced if he leads the Wildkits to a Class 4A state title later this month, a quest that began earlier this week in the Niles West Regional.
But when asked about his legacy, Eastern said he hopes to be remembered more for what he’s done away from the court.
“I’d rather people know me as a better person than basketball player,” said Eastern, who lives in Evanston. “That’s the most important thing to me — leaving something and always giving little kids motivation that they can be great, as well.”
Eastern has forged an especially close bond with one local boy.
Makai Kvamme, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at Skokie’s East Prairie School, first met Eastern four years ago when the pair worked out with the same basketball trainer. Makai instantly idolized Eastern, and asked his mother Sarah if the then-budding basketball star could come to his 7-year-old birthday party at Six Flags Great America.
“We called Nojel, and he didn’t think twice. In fact, he was just as excited to spend the day with Makai as Makai was to spend the day at Great America with Nojel,” Sarah Kvamme said. “They’ve been friendly from that point on.”
Eastern quickly established himself as a mentor and pal to Makai, a talented basketball player in his own right. Today, the pair sees one another often and Eastern is a frequent visitor to the Skokie home where Makai lives with his parents Sarah and Malik and sisters Aliyah (12) and Leila (6).
Eastern and Makai regularly practice basketball together — and Eastern helps coach Makai’s club team — they play video games and go out for food. Makai even joined Eastern and his mother Tamala Reed on a few college recruiting visits.
“Every time you ask Makai what he wants to do, he wants to be with Nojel. As parents, we couldn’t be more proud to have Nojel as Makai’s role model,” said Sarah Kvamme, who said she’s also grown close to Reed. “It was like God was looking down on us and (Eastern and Reed) were the two family members we were missing in our house, and they just appeared.”
Eastern, an only child, said he feels a special kinship with Makai and the Kvamme family.
“(Makai) is like the little brother I never had. (Aliyah and Leila) are like the little sisters I never had,” Eastern said. “I just want to have a positive impact on them, be a big brother to them.”
Malik Kvamme describes Eastern as grounded, and said he sets a great example for the Kvamme children and Makai’s friends, who sometimes flock to the Kvamme’s home when Eastern comes over.
Malik Kvamme said Eastern has helped Makai become a more talented and unselfish basketball player. Eastern also makes sure Makai, an honor-role student, gets his homework done, and insists Makai come to the dinner table.
“We tell Makai to come to the table, but he wants to play a few more minutes of a game. But then Nojel says, ‘Come on, it’s time (for dinner),’ and Makai’s like, ‘All right, it’s time to get over there,'” Malik Kvamme said.
Eastern and Makai share a special handshake before each Evanston game. After the game, Makai assesses Eastern’s performance. Malik Kvamme said some people find it humorous that a 10-year-old is critiquing a nationally-rated recruit.
Makai said: “If (Nojel) is not shooting great (I tell him). If he’s not shooting enough, or he’s passing too much … same thing.”
Makai plans to be there every step of the way in the coming weeks as Eastern and the Wildkits make what they hope will be a run to Peoria, site of the state finals. But both Eastern and Makai know their relationship will change next year when Eastern heads off to Purdue.
At Eastern’s national signing day press conference in November, Makai sat next to Eastern. But the event was bittersweet because the Kvammes were reminded Eastern will be off to West Lafayette before long.
Not only will Eastern be away from Evanston next year, but he will be dealing with the rigors of life as a Big Ten student-athlete. But Eastern insists he’ll make plenty of time for Makai and the Kvamme family.
“As I go off to college, it’s going to be tough not seeing (Makai) as much, because he’s like a brother,” Eastern said. “But we are going to communicate, the families will continue to communicate. We’ll never stop talking.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
